


Pitt patt: "You get one chance, Cupcake."

by ephylia



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band)
Genre: Deals, Expect some minor character deaths or mentioned deaths, Fluff and Angst, Happy Birthday to My Most Precious Dimple Taiwanese Prince, M/M, Mafia AU, Swearing, The Author Had A Dilemma Over Writing This, a oneshot gone horribly wrong it is now a multi, end pairing - zhengjun, may imply drug usage BUT, zzt isn't actually taking them he's just being overly dramatic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 00:56:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephylia/pseuds/ephylia
Summary: It's a rainy day when Zhengting stumbles upon a chase and gets himself involved with other people's business. He chooses to save a kid's life, which in turn, throws his own life into jeopardy. Then right off the bat---a stranger who calls Zhengting "Cupcake" is forcing him to join their gang, but on one condition. A Life for A Life.Pitt patt: the light taps of the resounding rain Zhengting hates to hear so much.





	Pitt patt: "You get one chance, Cupcake."

_It gets **harder**._

_The pain doesn't stop even when you scream you've had enough_

— _it continues to pound on your head nonstop,_

— _poke holes through your heart to watch the blood drop,_

_; the longer you let them do as they please, the faster you sink underneath the pool of pandemonium._

_*_

_Zhu Zhengting thinks this is the only place in the world he will never be able to escape._

_Because doing so would mean that he will have to give up his everything._

_But what if his everything consists of the only life he holds?_

_Would he choose to let go and die as a free man? Or live in imprisonment as a walking dead man?_

_*_

* * *

 

_Pitt Patt._

Regrettably— **La Fée** , the sweet delicacy coffee shop that 19-year-old Zhengting works at was steadily quiet and steadily decaying. Ever since the new shop,  **Snow Tea** , opened up from right across the street, their customers have gradually declined. Albeit a newcomer, 'Snow Tea' was vastly promoted on the town's main server,  **QQ**   **Wide** , via pop up online advertisements, which successfully garnered the public's interest and attention. Even the regulars that Zhengting came to grow fond of had stopped coming into 'La Fée' altogether. It meant a slow day with little things to do and shifts essentially being cut.

The cash register had been left untouched for so long that it was now covered in dust. The coffee machine sat dry and outdated making the place look tedious. The shop hadn't been making any profit for the past few months, and the staffs were worried that the place would soon close down for good.

_Pitt Patt._

But if there's any person who is most worried for such an outcome, it would be Zhu Zhengting. It took him nearly ten job interviews to get hired to this store (what-with his lacking credentials and references for being unable to pursue post-secondary education). His rent will soon be overdue and with his working hours being halved every single day, it won't be long before the landlord is forcing him to pack up his belongings and go.

Alone after being abandoned months ago by his divorced parents, he imagines that he might have to grovel and beg his way in the streets of Beijing if it guaranteed his survival.

**"You get one chance, Cupcake."**

_Pitt Patt._

  

* * *

 

At quarter to midnight, the rain hadn't stopped pouring when Zhengting stepped out of 'La Fée' in his worn out sneakers for the last time as one of their waiters. The shop had officially closed down. In a few days, the windows would be covered by tape and cardboard to be sealed away from the public's eyes (until the spot is sold to a well-fit buyer). In other words, he was fired. 

He decided to take the long way home, depressed at the fact he no longer had a job or money to help him pay for his bills. The rain water seeped through his buttoned down shirt and pants, then clung onto his body like how koalas love to hug their bamboo trees. His hair was gone from its soft and fluffy condition, but was instead sticking to his cheeks with curled wet ends.

Going around the neighborhood to take a different turn from his usual path, Zhengting alarmingly stumbled upon a gray area as he watched a small shadow run to a narrowed and closed off alley-way with two other men clad in black ski masks sprinting right behind their heels. "Get over here, you brat!" one of the chasers yelled.

Swallowing the lump in his throat that signified his fear, he thought. _I shouldn't be here. Fuck. This is big trouble. Turn away, Zhengting. Turn away, go home, and tuck your pretty self to bed._

"H-HELP! GEGE! HELP ME!" 

Frozen at hearing the shouts, he realized.  _That sounded like a kid's voice!_

He couldn’t  move his legs to bolt now.

_What the heck are two grown ass men doing chasing a little kid!?_

His mother instinct was almost immediately awakened.

There was no way he was leaving a helpless child in need. He had to do something and fast!

In a panicky state, Zhengting looked around him to find any kind of weapon to use. What he ended up finding was one steel garbage can overflowing with decomposed food, two fallen and crumpled up flyers floating in a puddle, and lastly, one muddy pylon was discarded at the side of a wall. He grabbed the pylon (the best choice of all) with a firm grip before charging into the battle head on.

It was the stupidest thing he had ever done in his whole entire life.

"S-step away from my child!" he declared while shooting the two men the best glare he could muster (and also gulping down the embarrassment from having his voice crack when he shouted at them). He was quick to claim the unknown child as his because it was in his nature to act as a parent to any young one in danger. It was a pet-peeve for being an only child despite having asked his mother once if he could have a younger sibling (in which, the idea was rejected).

The men regarded the pylon pointed towards them with disinterest. "I suggest you turn back and run home, Boy," one said, and Zhengting recognized him as the man who yelled earlier.  "You don't want to be involved in this."

Zhengting refused to let his resolve waver. In fact, he only argued back childishly while still waving his so-called weapon in the air. "Stop picking on my small child and go."

"You shouldn't try to tell two men—with big guns—what to do."

"What big gun? All I see is a measly pistol that wouldn't do anyone much harm."

Instantly, the gun was pointed towards him as a threat. "Do you want to take me on that bet? If I pull this trigger and shot you in the head, do you think you'll see the daylight tomorrow with a busted brain?"

It was all Zhengting needed to do; to use himself as bait and distract the chasers from seeing the small boy climb over the wall and escape. 

"Oh. Look. The child is gone."

"What-?" As soon as both men turned around, Zhengting threw the pylon at them in frantic before bolting.

_Ruunn!_

It was hard to run through the rain, especially with his vision being obscured by the showering water. All he knew was he had to keep running or he might lose his life tonight. Along the pit-pattering sound of his moving legs, his heart was palpitating in the same rhythm. He was absolutely scared and lost, eager to reach his apartment building, lock the door and forget the event ever happened.

However, he could hear the men's rapid footsteps following his tail, and they were quickly closing in on him. They were too fast, obviously trained and fit. _How do I outrun them?!_

Then unexpectedly, he heard someone fire.

A bullet grazed his right shoulder and IT HURT LIKE FUCKING HELL! He placed a palm over the torn skin to stop the bleeding. "BOY, GET OVER HERE!"

Just when he was about to get body slammed into the ground, a foreign motorcycle screeched into a stop right in front of Zhengting and his chasers before flashing their head lights to cause visual blindness.

_What the-?!_

The driver leaned over with one foot touching the ground and shot pass Zhengting to take the two men behind him down. The bullets lodged through their chests repeatedly, spilling blood. Consequently, Zhengting's ears rang in vibration due to the deafening sound of a trigger being pulled, and that made him curve into a helpless ball out of fear.

 _Shit! Is this how I die?_ But then the shooting stopped, answering his plea for quiet and safety.

"Get on."

_Huh._

"Cupcake, I said get on."

Zhengting was obviously not in the right state of mind.

Because there was no way he would ride some stranger's bike, cling onto the man's leather jacket like his life depended on it, while still preventing too much blood to gush out from his shoulder. But that's exactly what he did (albeit sober though closely delirious).

The man smelled like *Rosemary and Mint. Somehow, the sweet scent lulled him to shutting his eyes, craving for a nap.

His grip loosened at the jacket, and for a moment there when his body swayed to the side clashing with the strong and passing breeze, Zhengting thought he would fall over and die on the road.

Instantly, the unknown man grabbed his hand and pulled him against their back in proper security. "Don't fall off my bike, Cupcake. I didn't just save you to have you die on me in a second. You saved my brother's life. So now, I'm saving yours."

The unknown man’s back was warm and oddly comforting. Shamelessly, he couldn’t help himself but to press his cheek against the toned muscles while circling his arms tightly around their waist. _Am_ _I_ _really_ _safe now?_ Zhengtingwonders in concern.

-

-

-

_Regret, **maybe**._

_It was a constant visitor in Zhengting's head._

_—I should've toppled off your bike and rolled dead,_

_—let the opened wound free and have it all bled,_

_; but it's also a passing thought that don't linger for too long the moment you touch me._

_-_

_-_

_-_

"Get off."

Zhengting didn't necessarily liked being ordered around but what can he do when he's the one person unarmed.

They make their way into someone's garage. The door is shut behind them and finally, Zhengting realized that they have company.

There were three new men, masked but in a red-knitted cloth instead, standing around a black ski masked person tied to a chair. "We captured their squad leader," one of them spoke, directing his words to Zhengting's saviour. "But, first—who the fuck did you bring with you Evan? Who said you can start bringing in strays?"

"He saved Justin. I'm taking him in."

"You know that's not how it goes. All recruits must pass a ritual test then be approved by August. You can't simply get anybody to be our member."

"That's why we test him," Grunted by his saviour who now has a name. "With you three as his witnesses."

Evan turned to him and Zhengting discovered that the lad wasn't wearing a mask to cover his face. He looked stunningly handsome, and _intimidating_.

"Just go along with it," Evan said like it was the most natural thing to say. "It's one kill. **A life for a life.** That's how it goes around here."

_Pitt Patt._

"W-what are you making me do?"

The man took his trembling hand to pass on a gun. A real handgun.

"Shoot the person tied in that chair."

Alarmed, he yelled, "Are you fucking insane?!"

Zhengting's soaked back was suddenly digging into the rugged wall behind him as a heavier bodyweight pressed themselves against him. He wasn't allowed room to look away from the most vicious, but also the most captivating eyes he has ever seen when Evan slammed him against the wall.

 **"You get one chance, Cupcake.”** He mouths inaserioustone. “Either I shoot you, or you do what you're told."

A panic attack arises within Zhengting. He tries to process what is happening around him coherently. There are exactly four men in the room armed with military weapons, a man tied to a chair expecting an execution, and him being watched dangerously by everyone standing to see what his worth may be. Evan noticed the fear painted across his face, so the man cups his cheeks in reassurance. "That man sitting over there burnt down a candy store four blocks away from here." Zhengting stilled. "He killed two people and injured seven. I can tell you right now that he has a series of similar cases under his belt. You're not killing off an angel."

"But what would that make me after?" Zhengting whispered in a mix of scare and incoming rage. "A cold-blooded murderer?"

"No. Don't be dense. It would make you a survivor."

 

 

 

Momentarily, the shot was fired.

Zhengting wants to regret the night. Because although he saved a little boy's life; in exchange, he had to take someone else's life away. Along with it, his life, too, has been risked into the gambling table.

They were now in the hands of this terribly gorgeous and dangerous-looking man. Evan.

It was an alias belonging to one, Lin Yanjun.

"Well done, Cupcake."

The coin has been tossed into the air.

Heads, he _dies_ , or Tails, he **dies**. Regardless of any destined flipped side, the outcome remains awfully the same.

**Author's Note:**

> *Rosemary and Mint = my trademark scent for Lin Yanjun.
> 
>   
>  This is a complete AU. Beijing isn't actually the Beijing we know. I just named it Beijing for the heck of it. The government system is very different and so people like Yanjun's gang exists.
> 
> A special thanks to @fanpd_ and @khaosmaze for helping me sort out my thoughts when I was having a dilemma over what kind of story to post for a oneshot (NOW TURNED INTO A MULTICHAPTERED). I tried making this into a oneshot but it was really hard to do (plus, I ran out of time because this was actually the FOURTH plot I had written down).
> 
>   
>  Hope you enjoy this fic tho. And let's spread the Zhengjun love~


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